Author: solarenergy
Spain has revised its grid access rules to support energy storage, giving hybrid renewable energy plus storage projects equal distribution priority and full revenue rights for stored electricity. October 17, 2025 Pilar Sanchez Molina By ESS news Spain has formally recognized energy storage as a key technology for supporting grid flexibility and integrating renewable electricity. Hybrid renewable energy plus storage projects can now retain full revenue for stored electricity so they are not penalized for installing batteries. The update gives renewable energy plus storage sites the same redispatch priority as standalone renewable plants and requires operators to provide real-time telemetry…
By pv magazine USA Solar projects generally fall into two categories: they are large, ground-mounted, utility-scale projects connected to the electric grid, or they are smaller, distributed projects with a capacity typically of 20 MW or less. In California, and many other U.S. states, smaller, distributed projects, especially those behind the meter, are under attack by utilities and state lawmakers. scapegoat for high electricity rates. A 2024 paper by Mark Jacobson, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University, explains why we should support behind-the-meter solar installations nationwide. Distributed, small-scale solar projects are often classified as behind-the-meter (BTM) or…
Attorneys general from Colorado, California and 21 other states are suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin for ending the $7 billion Solar for All program that lowers energy costs and pollution by bringing solar energy to more than 900,000 homes nationwide, including 20,000 homes in Colorado. Colorado and 23 other grant recipients also filed suit this week in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims to recover damages for EPA’s wrongful violation of the grant agreements executed under this program. Congress created the Solar for All program in 2022 as part of the Inflation Reduction Act,…
Energy China has signed three EPC contracts worth $2.7 billion for 5 GW of wind and solar projects in Saudi Arabia with partners including PIF and Aramco Power. October 17, 2025 Vincent Shaw China Energy Engineering Corporation (Energy China) announced that a consortium formed by its subsidiaries – China Energy International Construction Group, Guangdong Thermal Power Engineering and Northwest Electric Power Design Institute – had signed three engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts for renewable energy projects in Saudi Arabia. The consortium worked with a project company jointly established by the Saudi International Company for Power and Water, the Public…
Lhyfe has opened its first hydrogen plant outside France in Germany, while the Hamburg Green Hydrogen Hub is planning a 100 MW electrolyzer at the former Moorburg coal site. October 17, 2025 Sergio Matalucci Lhyfe opened its first commercial production site in Germany, its fourth production site and the first outside France. “On a one-hectare plot of land in Schwäbisch Gmünd, Lhyfe has installed a factory that can produce up to 4 tons of renewable hydrogen per day (installed capacity of 10 MW). This hydrogen, produced via the electrolysis of water the use of renewable energy should be used to…
The solar PV scheme for medically vulnerable customers covers all homeowners who rely on electrically powered medical equipment, regardless of their energy supplier. It includes a 2kW solar PV system and around 470 homes have benefited so far. October 17, 2025 Blathnaid O’Dea SONY DSC Image: Jürgen Striewski, Wikimedia Commons CC-BY-SA-4.0 Ireland has extended the eligibility criteria for its solar PV scheme for medically vulnerable customers to include all homeowners registered with their energy supplier as dependent on electrically powered medical equipment, including dialysis machines and ventilators. Previously, the scheme only applied to those on ESB Networks’ Priority Services Register,…
A research team assessing the social embeddedness of solar mini-grids in rural Pakistan found that the technology responds to energy poverty while promoting community empowerment. The team concluded that a mini-grid can promote broader societal changes while providing a technological solution. October 17, 2025 Patrick Jowett A research team based in Italy and Pakistan has explored the socio-technical implications of installing solar microgrids in off-grid rural communities in Pakistan. The study covered three rural communities near Jahanpur in the Punjab province of East-Central Pakistan, each mainly engaged in agricultural activities. In the village of Bismillah Mor, the researchers conducted a…
A community solar project in Illinois by Ampion. On October 17, the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) approved major updates to the Illinois Power Agency’s Long-Term Renewable Resources Procurement Plan (LTRRPP) 2024 – 2026 to expand solar capacity and protect Illinois consumers from rising energy costs. The ICC’s decision allows for an immediate expansion of the ICC Adjustable block program by 100% – doubling the community, commercial and small-scale solar categories – and promoting new competitive procurement for utilities, ahead of the phase-out of federal investment tax credits (ITC). The ruling allows developers to bring hundreds of additional megawatts of affordable,…
The AI model tightens the solar forecasts to support the stability of the satellite network Accurate predictions of solar radiation are crucial for the stability of photovoltaic energy systems, but current models often fade as the prediction time increases. To tackle this challenge, researchers led by Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology have unveiled an AI-based solution called GAN-Solar, designed to generate sharper, more reliable forecasts for solar energy management. The model uses the principle of Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), pitting two neural networks against each other in a process that resembles a competition between a ‘master painter’ (the…
Chinese researchers developed an electric heating model to support uniform material temperature in a new four-ring, 80-rod industrial Siemens reactor. October 17, 2025 Valerie Thompson A Chinese team led by researchers from Kunming University of Science and Technology and Yunnan Yuntong Zinc Co. built a model to simulate the electrical heat processing of U-shaped silicon rods in a new four-ring, 80-rod industrial Siemens reactor. The research team noted that previous studies showed that using high-frequency alternating current (AC) “could significantly improve temperature uniformity in polysilicon rods due to the skin effect,” albeit in much smaller reactors, and developed a new…